Final Fondue (A Five-Ingredient Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page A

enough to go back outside. If Fawn really was dead, whoever had put a rope around her neck might still be in the backyard.
    She pulled out her cell phone and noted the time. Five after ten. On a Friday night with so many tourists in town, the police would still be busy. She called Bayport Police Chief Earl Yardley. If this was a prank, he would give the prankster a lecture she wouldn’t forget. And if it wasn’t, he’d know what to do. Before taking over as chief here, he’d worked as a detective in other Maryland jurisdictions.
    Val was relieved to reach him in person instead of his voice mail. “Chief, it’s Val Deniston. Someone—I think one of the tourists staying here—is lying in our backyard. She looks dead, and she has a rope around her neck.”
    The chief groaned. “If anyone else in this town said that to me, I’d tell ’em to go sleep it off. With your knack for coming on dead bodies, I take this seriously. Do the other tourists staying at the house know about this?”
    “They don’t know I found her dead.”
    “Don’t say anything to them. I’ll be there shortly with the EMTs. For now, stay inside with the doors locked.” He hung up.
    Val went to the front hall, saw that a light was on in her grandfather’s room, and knocked on the door. “Granddad? I have something important to tell you.”
    “Come in.” Still dressed, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, with one shoe on and one off. He looked up at her. “You’re pale. What’s wrong?”
    She sat down next to him. “Get ready for some bad news. I found one of our guests dead in the backyard—Fawn.”
    He clutched the edge of the mattress. “Are you sure she’s dead? Did you check her breathing and her pulse?”
    Val shook her head. “She has a rope around her neck. I think she was strangled.”
    He reached down for the shoe he’d taken off. “She might still be alive. I’m going to check. You stay inside the house.”
    Val couldn’t talk him out of going to the backyard. She walked back to the kitchen with him, gave him a flashlight, and watched from the window when he went outside.
    He returned a minute later. “She’s dead alright. The strangler took the time to make loops at both ends of the rope for a better grip.”
    Not a spur-of-the-moment crime. “I saw you shining the flashlight around. What else did you see?”
    “A crab hat and two cigarette butts on the ground. A couple of strawberries on a plate and a little bowl of chocolate on the table.”
    “She was having seconds on the fondue.” Half an hour ago, Val had wiped fondue drips from the counter near the microwave and wondered who’d melted chocolate tonight. Now she knew.
    Granddad stared at a photograph on the wall, a candid shot of himself and Grandma taken a few months before she died. “Over the last few years, I’ve seen a lot of deaths. Your grandmother, Ned’s wife, and a couple of real good friends. They were in their seventies. It’s unnatural for a young person to die.” He pointed at the ceiling. “Do you think one of them murdered her?”
    “Not necessarily. Someone she didn’t know could have followed her here after the fireworks. Let’s not assume we have a murderer staying here.”
    Granddad squeezed her hand. “I’m mighty glad you’re not staying here.”
    “Me too.” She reached into her pocket and fingered her cousin’s house key. Good thing Monique wouldn’t have to wait up for her. The police might be here for hours, and Val didn’t know when they would let her leave. “Be sure to lock your door tonight.”
    “You forget I have a watchdog. I’ll put him in the hall outside my room before I go to bed.”
    Val smiled. “RoboFido to the rescue again. You’ve come up with more uses for that barking motion detector than anyone could imag—” She broke off at the sound of knocking on the front door. “That must be the chief. I’ll let him in.”
    “Look out the sidelight first and make sure it’s him.”
    Val went